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Unusual
Ways Newsletter
(Subscriber Access Only)
(Subscriber Access Only)
I once cleaned the carpet of an Recreational Vehicle in a park (carpet cleaning is one of the dozens of jobs I had early in life). This got me to thinking about all the other services that RV owners must need. I asked around a bit, and found that this is a market which is sometimes neglected. Some of these people spend months at a time in their RVs, after all, and they need their vehicles washed, bathrooms cleaned, and more.
There are power-wash units that are portable enough to travel with. They can be pulled behind any vehicle on a trailer. RV owners will pay $30 to $50 to have their vehicle/home washed with a high-pressure machine. It can take less than an hour, so there is money to be made doing this.
What makes this an unusual business is that you can travel the country in your own RV while making a living cleaning others. It is a lifestyle and a way to make a living. You stop at a nice park for a week and start offering your service. Clean seven or eight units daily, four days per week, and you'll make a gross income of about $4,000 to $6,000 per month. It does require a major investment to get started, however.
RV Window Washing
About the cheapest way to build a business servicing the needs of RV owners, is with window cleaning. It costs less than $50 to get started, and you can probably recover your initial investment the first day out. You need a bucket, a cleaning brush on a pole, a rubber squeegee, and some clean rags. You can make your own cleaning solution with sudsing ammonia, dish detergent, and rubbing alcohol (isopropyl). Just mix a few ounces of the ammonia, two cups of alcohol, and spoonful of dish detergent in a gallon of water.
It is a good idea to practice first on your own windows at home. You could also clean a friends windows for free. Then, when you really know how to get that glass clean, you're ready to start cleaning where your research shown you the most profit is (did I mention you should research things before starting a business?)
Traditional window washers charge anywhere from $15 to $30 per hour, or from $2 to $6 per window, depending on the size. You should be able to charge similar rates for cleaning RV windows (perhaps at the low end because of the small window size). You can charge extra for cleaning headlights, taillights and tires too.
You can start with RV parks and campgrounds near where you live. If the park owners have a problem with you distributing flyers or going door-to-door, you might get them to promote the service for you. Just make a nice sign for the office, and give the owners or managers a dollar for each job you get. They might be happy to hand out your cards then.
If you have enough RV parks in the area, you can get established with a couple, turn the cleaning work over to a $9-per-hour employee, and look for more business. Although this would be a seasonal business in many areas, you could still grow it into a large operation. Alternately, you could make it part of a more traditional cleaning business.
This is also another business that you can hit the road with. Travel the country in your own RV and clean windows to pay the bills. A few days work each week might be all you need to keep going.
Other RV Services
My wife and I have spent time camping in our van at parks and campgrounds which have RVs. There are some common needs that we have seen. Here are some unusual business ideas that come from these.
Many RVers want a fire in the evening. While the hosts at some parks sell firewood, this is not universal, so there is an opportunity here. This doesn't have to involve cutting the wood yourself. You could buy a cord of cut and split wood, and a roll of twine, then resell the firewood a bundle at a time.
Shopping is always a problem when a couple has motor home set up many miles from the nearest town, and doesn't have a separate car. Not only does it mean pulling in awnings and other work, but a 50-mile round-trip visit to the store can cost $30 in these gas-guzzlers. This spells opportunity for the right entrepreneur, in the form of a paid shopping service for people who are staying for weeks or months in isolated RV parks.
Some less-formal RV communities have venders of everything from books to food. A visit to one of these places (like "slab city" in California) is sure to yield some ideas for businesses that could be targeted to other RV parks.
Note: This is part of the "Unusual Ways"
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Unusual Ways To Make Money | A Traveling RV Service Business